Snapchat brings story sharing outside of app with Snap Map update

Updates still upset a lot of users

Anyone that uses Snapchat has probably noticed the massive changes being made lately. Individual Snaps and stories are all now in the same list when swiping left and the right panel is full of popular or promoted stories. Some changes are being received much worse than others, but that is not stopping Snap from carrying on with more alterations in an attempt to better compete with Instagram Stories.

Despite cries from millions of users and many notable content creators, Snap is pushing ahead. The latest update from the company is the addition of a web portal for viewing the Snap Map. Inside the app, friends can be tracked and local stories can be viewed as hot spots regardless of where you are physically located. Now, viewing local stories is possible online without a Snapchat account directly from a web browser.

Public stories often appear for any large event. Most importantly, the update offers the ability for consumers to interact with Snapchat on a standard computer instead of only on mobile devices. Sections of the map can be linked from posts on Snapchat or embedded into websites.

This offers plenty of expansion opportunities and also provides advertisers and creators with additional statistics on how their posts are performing. Since no account is required to view public stories online, friends cannot be tracked on the web just yet provided their permissions allow for it.

The ability for content creators to attract an audience is something that Snapchat has not made easy over the past few years. There was little to no promotion of creators in the past without paying for sponsored posts in the discover section of the app. That has since changed with the inclusion of popular stories.

As the updates continue to roll out, only time will tell how much Snap can push on its user base before people start to leave the platform all together. If you use Snapchat now, will you continue to do so?